Bush Promises Money To Help 'glades

January 5, 2001|By NEIL SANTANIELLO Staff Writer

STUART — Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday unveiled his environmental budget proposals for next budget year, promising to seek continued infusions of state money to restore the Everglades and millions in new money to protect endangered manatees and keep marine officers on guard against speeding boats that threaten them.

Bush, addressing 200 people gathered in Stuart for the 16th annual meeting of the Everglades Coalition, said his proposed budget would provide the second of 10 state installments of roughly $100 million a year, keeping a pledge from the state Legislature to eventually pay its half of a $7.8 billion Everglades restoration plan.

The federal government is picking up the other half of the tab for that 35-year project, signed into law by President Clinton last month, to overhaul a drainage system that has chronically damaged the River of Grass.

Along with that money to undo some of the flood-protection plumbing harming the Everglades, Bush said he also would seek $750,000 to continue tests to find biological solutions to better clean dirty water flowing into the Everglades. He said he would push to have a pollution standard for the marsh established possibly a year ahead of its state-mandated 2003 deadline.

The coalition, comprised of 42 local, state and federal environmental groups with a keen interest in the Everglades' future, listened as Bush outlined his broader plans for environmental initiatives for the upcoming year.

The plight of the manatee, which Bush said is his "favorite mammal," has been a big issue this past year following the death of 82 from watercraft in 1999.

Bush said his 2001-02 budget includes $7 million to boost public education campaigns and help local governments develop plans to protect the slow-swimming, gentle marine mammals. It also contains an additional $2 million to provide more overtime pay for officers who enforce boating laws and low-speed zones in waterways where manatees swim and feed.

Bush said the overtime money would equate to having 35 new officers patrolling waterways. He also is calling to increase the $50 speeding fine for manatee speed zone violators.

"By raising that fine there will be a greater awareness of manatee protection areas," he said.

Earlier in the day, a coalition of environmental and animal rights activists announced a settlement to a federal lawsuit they filed that they said would produce stronger federal protection for the sea cows.

Bush did not announce new dollars in his budget for Lake Okeechobee, which faces a billion-dollar-plus pollution problem. He noted before his talk that the state allocated $38 million for the lake last year and said, "We have a very creative plan" to get a cleanup launched.

"There won't be a stop at all on the restoration plans for the lake."

He also declined to say whether he favored or opposed a highly controversial plan develop the Homestead Air Force Base. The White House is due to issue its decision this month, before President Clinton leaves office.

"That's not my duty, to have an opinion on that," Bush said, adding he would respond to whatever the administration endorses.

Bush railed about decade-and-a-half-old growth management rules in the state, arguing they should be revamped, with development steered to areas with roads, schools and other services to support it and developers picking up more of the cost.

Bush also said he would request $2.5 million to develop private-public partnerships to protect Florida's 600-plus freshwater springs. He drew loud applause when he reiterated his support for breaching the Rodman Dam to restore the Ocklawaha River.

Releasing the pent-up water could entail a serious problem, he said. Nutrients that have accumulated in the reservoir formed by the dam could harm the lower St. John's River. He proposes spending $800,000 to find ways to solve that problem while designing the method to carry out the breach.

The coalition lauded Bush for his environmental efforts. Both the governor and Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary David Struhs received "Year 2000 Steward of the Everglades" from the coalition.

Coalition co-chairman Don Chinquina, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society in Miami, said he was "very happy" to hear Bush wanted to hasten Everglades cleanup efforts and called the governor's speech "very optimistic."

Neil Santaniello can be reached at nsantaniellosun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6625.